Highlights

Hans Memling

Memling Restoration 'Open hours'

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On December 18th, 2001 the KMSKA started the very ambitious restoration of
Christ with Musical Angels.

About Memling

Hans Memling's (ca. 1440 - 1494) oldest known painting dates back to 1467.
Besides the portraits for which he is so famous, he painted many scenes from the lives of Christ
and Mary as well as numerous versions of the Madonna and Child. Hans Memling was an important
figure in the Southern Netherlands of the fifteenth century when the art of painting reached
unparalleled heights. As a 'religious painter' with a highly individual point-of-view, he was a
precursor of humanism.

German citizen of Bruges

Originally from Seligenstadt in Hessen, Germany. Memling spent the last thirty years of his life
in the prosperous Burgundian city of Bruges, registering as a burgher there in 1465. The duty clerk
wrote 'Jan van Mimnelinghe' for a name which must previously have been 'Henne Mömmeling'. Earlier
Memling had probably worked for a while in the Brussels studio of
Rogier van der Weyden, who had a great influence on him. In Bruges 'Master Hans'
acquired international fame. His work was in great demand, particularly in the 1480s. By that time
Memling had his own studio with assistants and he was a man of means. Most of his clients,
including several Italians, were rich burghers or held ecclesiastical office.